Another busy day in Rift yesterday. As I mentioned in a previous post, crafted gear is really important in Rift but I find the system too simple over all and there for it lowers the value of the gear. So far all crafted gear is better then my equal level adventure quested gear, and better then quite a few dungeon pieces. I even had a pair of blue shoes made that were better then my rare planar boots that I had just purchased (grrr). I have three characters (maybe I’ll add a fourth) and each of them craft. My main (the cleric) is an artificer, and also has mining and foraging. I picked up the quest to add steel to my list of combines yesterday and came across my newest pet peeve. Well, two of them actually. Number one, I have already completed the quest for steel but I keep getting the drop for it. I can’t do anything with it since it’s soulbound and I’ve completed it – but yet the ores keep dropping them. On that same note, the tailor quest keeps dropping from mobs too. I would love it if quests would recognize when you’ve already completed it and stopped dropping and it should not drop for me if I’m not a tailor. I’ve lost track of how many quest starter pieces I’ve deleted.
I got to see my first glimpse of Deepstrike Mines thanks to my other half running me through on his level 50 warrior. I queued along with a friend as heals/dps/tank/support (between the two of us we had everything covered) for approximately two hours and we didn’t even get so much as a nibble. It didn’t matter WHAT we set ourselves as in order to cover the roles of a group, the dungeon just wasn’t going to happen. I wanted to complete the quests before they turned completely gray to me (they were already very green) and so we teamed up and did the dungeon as a duo instead of a full group. I really think the LFDungeon tool needs a LOT of work.
After that was done I was just a bubble shy of 32 so I set out to do some PvP via Warfronts. We lost every single one, and I was the only healer in each of them which means I was ganged up on as soon as any Guardian found out I was the healer. Still, I trudged through each Warfront gleefully, and after a few runs I managed to hit level 32. Pleased with my progress, I’m still making my way through Scarlet Gorge, which is very pretty and seems to have fire rifts at every turn.
I logged back to my crafter characters (one is an apothecary with runebreaking, the other an outfitter) and leveled them each up a few points as well as completed some daily crafting quests. The best part is that those characters are each level 13 and level 8 – and my crafting quests currently send me to Stonefield to turn them in. The first character was lucky enough to get summon via the guild banner, but the 2nd character I decided to walk. She made it without deaths thanks to a few other players running around questing in the early parts of Stonefield (specifically where all those trolls hang out).
Thanks to the other half I also managed to complete the puzzle located in Stonefield which I had never even seen before. It was my first puzzle, and it was a lot of fun – the best part is that it rewarded me with a purple bp that was a major upgrade over what I was wearing. All in all it was a pretty progressive evening, with a lot of fun moments tossed in.
I’ve also built myself a 3rd spec. I mentioned a while back that I was considering this and simply didn’t have the cash to afford a 3rd spec, but I decided now was the time. I’ve now got a single target heal spec for dungeons, an AoE heal spec for Rifts / Raids and I’ve got a dps / tank spec for questing and soloing. They’re taking a little time to get used to but I’m quite happy with my choices. For me it’s not about what’s “best” but what feels “right” for my play style. I spent the better part of an evening testing out different combinations that just didn’t feel right out on the field, so I would tweak them over and over until it felt “right” for me.
Inching my way into the 40’s is a nice experience. I don’t know what I’ll think once I get to 50 and how much there will be for me to do – but we’ll just have to see. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
My experience with the LFD tool in the lower to mid tiers has been ok-ish, but it’s still generally at least a half hour to get a group. Of course, I’m on Faeblight which is heavily populated, but the fact that it takes that long even on a high pop server indicates something wonky to me.
It’s not so much that LFDungeon too needs more work, but rather, few people are using it. I can’t speak for the lower tiers, by once you hit level cap, you gear our rather quickly. Within two weeks or so, there’s no longer any reason to run dungeons. The only dungeon runs I do these days are for achievements, and we have a guild group for that.
There need to look into giving more incentives for people to run dungeons, or using the LFDungeon tool.